Prabhupada: As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, daivi hy esa gunamayi mama maya duratyaya [Bg. 7.14]. The whole material energy is enchanting every one of us by this beauty, the womanly beauty. Actually, there is no beauty. It is illusion. Sankaracarya says that “You are after this beauty, but have you analyzed this beauty?
What is the beauty?” Etad rakta-mamsa-vikaram. It is just like our student(s) Govinda dasi and Nara-narayana molding plaster of paris. At this time, there is no attraction. But this plaster of paris when it will be nicely painted, it will be so attractive. Similarly, this body is combination of blood and muscles and veins. If you cut the upper portion of your body, as soon as you see inside, it is all obnoxious horrible things. But outwardly so painted by the illusory color of maya, oh, it looks very attractive. And that is attracting our senses.
This is the cause of our bondage. We are being bound up by some false illusory beauty of this world. Mirage. The exact example is the mirage. What is mirage? Reflection of the sunlight on the desert appears like water. Where is water there? There is no water. The animal, thirsty animal, is after the mirage. “Oh, here is water. I’ll be satisfied.” Similarly we are hankering after, running after the mirage. There is no peace, there is no happiness. Therefore we have to divert our attention back to Godhead. Don’t run after this mirage. Just turn back to Godhead, back to Krsna. That is our propaganda. Don’t divert your... Don’t engage your senses in the illusory material beauty. Just apply your senses to Krsna, the real beautiful. That is Krsna consciousness. Go on.
Tamala Krsna: “Lord Siva once was in deep meditation, but when the beautiful maiden Parvati agitated him for sense pleasure, he agreed to the proposal and as a result Karttikeya was born.”
Prabhupada: Oh, here is Karttikeya present. (laughter) Yes. Hare Krsna. Go on. (laughter)
Tamala Krsna: “When Haridasa Thakura was a young devotee of the Lord he was similarly allured by the incarnation of Mayadevi.”
Prabhupada: Now here is the difference. Lord Siva, he is the greatest of the demigods. He was also allured by Parvati, and as a result of that attraction, this boy Karttikeya was born. That was the, what is called, conspiracy of the demigods, that unless one son is born out of the semina of Lord Siva, it is impossible to conquer the demons. So Karttikeya is considered the commander in chief of the demigods. But here, another example. Haridasa Thakura. Haridasa Thakura was young boy, about twenty, twenty-four years old, and he was chanting Hare Krsna, and the landlord in that village, he was very much envious of Haridasa Thakura. He conspired and engaged one prostitute to defy him. So the prostitute agreed and at dead of night, with very beautiful dress and she was young, and tried to captivate Haridasa Thakura. But he was not captivated. That is the difference. A Krsna conscious person, even an ordinary person, not in the level of Lord Siva or Lord Brahma, he’s never conquered by maya. But one who is not fully in Krsna consciousness, either he may be Lord Siva or Lord Brahma, he’ll be conquered by maya, what to speak of others. This is the position. Go on. “When Haridasa Thakura was a young devotee of the Lord...”
Tamala Krsna: “...he was similarly allured by the incarnation of Mayadevi, but Haridasa easily passed the test because of his unalloyed devotion to Lord Krsna. A sincere devotee of the Lord learns to hate all material sense enjoyment due to his higher taste for spiritual enjoyment in the association of the Lord. That is the secret of success.”
Prabhupada: Param drstva nivartate. Param, if you get better thing, you give up inferior quality thing. That is our nature. Just like our students, American students, they were all accustomed to meat-eating. But now another student, she is preparing the sweetballs, ISKCON balls, and they are forgetting meat-eating. They do not like any more meat-eating. They have got better engagement, sweetballs. (laughter)
Similarly, that is the way. When you get better engagement... We are hankering after pleasure. Anandamayo ’bhyasat. Every living entity is seeking after pleasure. That is his nature. You cannot stop. If you stop... Just like a child is seeking after some enjoyment, he’s breaking something, enjoyment. But he does not, that... He is breaking, but he’s simply enjoying that breaking. Similarly, we do not know what is enjoyment in this material concept of life. We are breaking and building. In your country I have seen in several places. Nice building is dismantled, and again, in that very place, another building is raised. You see? Breaking and building. Breaking and... “Oh, this building is old. Break it.” The same childish play. You see?
Simply wasting engagement, valuable time of this human form. Breaking and building, breaking and building. “This motorcar is useless. Another ’69 model.” And thousands of people are engaged in that ’69 model. You see? What is that? In essence, the breaking and building, breaking and building. Just like the child. You see? So unless one has got better engagement, Krsna consciousness, surely they will be engaged in this breaking and building, breaking and building. Childish engagement. Param drstva nivartate. And so far our students of Krsna consciousness, they are trying to get two hours more than twenty-four hours. They have got so much, so many engagements.
So unless one is engaged in Krsna consciousness, he must be in the maya’s engagement, same thing. People may eulogize such engagement, “Oh, he’s so moneyed man. He has dismantled such nice building and again constructed another nice building.” So, this is very nice in material estimation, but in spiritual estimation they are simply wasting time. (sings) Hari hari biphale janama gonainu, that song. (sings) Manusya-janama paiya, radha-krsna na bhajiya, janiya suniya bisa khainu.
Knowingly, purposefully, I am drinking poison. Poison. Why poison? Wasting time of this valuable human form of life is drinking poison. Just like a man drinks poison. He does not know what is his next life. He’s going to become a ghost. For years together, he’ll not have this material body as punishment. You have seen? Gaurasundara has written one ghost article in our Back to Godhead. In England, that ghost who fought with Cromwell? There is still fighting. At night, there is sound of fighting going on. You see?
So poison means this human form of life is the chance to get into Krsna consciousness and go back to Godhead. But if we do not engage in this Krsna consciousness, simply engage in this breaking and constructing, then we are simply drinking poison. That means next life I’ll be thrown into the cycle of birth and death in the 8,400,000 species of life, and my life is spoiled. We do not know for how many millions of years I’ll have to travel in that cycle of birth and death. Therefore it is poison. Janiya suniya bisa khainu. I know this, I am hearing. Still,... Janiya suniya bisa... Just like a thief. Janiya suniya, these words are very significant. Janiya means knowing, and suniya means hearing.
So a habituated thief, he knows that “If I steal I shall be put into jail.” And he has heard from scriptures that “Don’t steal. Then you’ll be put into hell.” So he has heard from the scriptures and he has seen practically. He has experienced practically, but still, as soon as he’s freed from the prison life, he again commits the same mistake. Janiya suniya bisa khainu. We know, we are hearing from the scriptures, from authorities, Vedic literatures, that “I have got this miserable conditional body, material body, to suffer threefolds of material miseries; still, I am not very much anxious how to stop this repetition of birth and death. I am drinking poison.” Janiya suniya bisa khainu. Hari hari biphale janama gonainu. These songs are very instructive. Simply purposefully, we are drinking poison. Go on.
Tamala Krsna: “One who is not, therefore, in Krsna consciousness, however powerful he may be in controlling the senses by artificial repression, is sure ultimately to fall, for the slightest thought of sense pleasure will drive him to gratify his desires.” 63: “From anger, delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost one falls down again into the material pool.”
Prabhupada: Our position is, we are constituted of this body. Body means the senses and the controller of the senses or the, what is called, driver, driver of the senses, is the mind. And mind is conducted, thinking, feeling, and willing, the psychology, the science of psychology, that is being conducted under intelligence. And above the intelligence, I am sitting. I am a spirit soul. So how we become victim of this maya, that is described here, that from anger, delusion arises, and from delusion, bewilderment of memory. Bewilderment memory. I have forgotten completely that I am not this body, I am spirit soul, aham brahmasmi; I am part and parcel of the Supreme Brahman, spirit, absolute whole. That I have forgotten. And when memory is bewildered, and as soon as I forget that I am spirit soul, I identify myself with this material world, illusion. Intelligence is lost. I should have used my intelligence to conduct the activities of the mind—thinking, feeling and willing—and because my mind is not controlled, my senses are not controlled, therefore I am fallen. This is the analysis of the whole bodily construction.
[Bhagavad-gita 2.62-72--Los Angeles, December 19, 1968]
